Our Urban Experience: Day Two: The State Capital.

On day two, we were up bright and early. We are staying at a Victorian-style mansion about 2 miles from downtown Denver, now set up as a Bed and Breakfast, called "The Holday Chalet." It is a very nice little place, with beautiful decor and a very accomodating staff (They had warm cookies ready for us after our first evening out on the town Monday night.) The only difficulty for me is the fact that we are packing five members of the cohort into one room with three beds. I am sleeping on the marble floor on an air mattress. It could be worse, I suppose.

Breakfast is very good, quiche, oatmeal, muffins, etc. Lots of coffee.

We head out as a group early in the morning. On the agenda for the day, a trip to the Colorado State Capital. A past Director of Project Promise, Angie Paccione, was elected to the State House a couple of years ago. She has invited us to sit on the floor of the House during today's session and then meet with the Education Committee during their deliberations. We sat around the outside of the floor on padded benches, but were quickly told to rise and be recognized as Angie introduced Project Promise to the members of the House and read our names to the crowd. Afterwards, we received a standing ovation for our efforts. That was pretty cool. We then settled in to follow the proceedings of the day. There was a heated discussion that had to due with the reporting of citizenship status when presenting for medical care. After an hour or so, we adjourned to a lower conference room for the Education Committee. Again, there was a heated debate regarding the privatization of some of Mesa State College's finances. This was actually a rather interesting discussion, given the ongoing debates regarding privatization of Social Security funds, etc. I liked it. Lee, one of our instructors that was sitting next to me at the time, thought it was rather boring.

We were done with this "activity" at around 12:30 or so. We has lunch with some other members of the cohort at the Adam's Mark Hotel buffet. This was very good and I enjoyed making my own pasta selection at the pasta bar. After eating, we were set free to our own devices for the rest of the day.